Applications
Research in condensed matter physics has given rise to several device applications, such as the development of the semiconductor transistor, and laser technology. Several phenomena studied in the context of nanotechnology come under the purview of condensed matter physics. Techniques such as scanning-tunneling microscopy can be used control processes at the nanometre scale, and have given rise to the study of nano-fabrication. Several condensed matter systems are being studied with potential applications to quantum computation, including experimental systems like quantum dots, SQUIDs, and theoretical models like the toric code and the quantum dimer model. Condensed matter systems can be tuned to provide the conditions of coherence and phase-sensitivity that are essential ingredients for quantum information storage. Spintronics is a new area of technology that can be used for information processing and transmission, and is based on spin, rather than electron transport. Condensed matter physics also has important applications to Biophysics, for example, the experimental technique of magnetic resonance imaging, which is widely used in medical diagnosis.
Read more about this topic: Condensed Matter Physics